Locking device for automatic firearms



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Filed July 25, 1946 A F C HENCKEL LOCKING DEVICE FOR AUTOMATIC FIREARMS`Fan. 23, 1951 Patented Jan. 23, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT LOCKINGDEVICE FOR AUTOMATIC FIREARMS Aage Frederik Christian Henckel, Hellerup,Denmark Application July 25, 1946-, serial No. 686,234

In Denmark April 30, 1946 'Ihe present invention relates to asafetymechanism for the type of automatic firearms where the recoiling partsare retain^d in their rearmost position bv a catch released bv atrigger, and the hammer or striking lever of which is released by therecoiling parts at the end of their forward stroke and. apart from beingof simple and plain construction and easily operated. the obiect of theinvention is to produce a safety device affording the highest possibledegree of safetyagainst untimely di"charge, particularlv in the casewhere the recoiling parts are not locked.; It is known from certainconstructions of` breech loading guns that they are provided with asafety member in the form of asliding pawl that can be pushed. for thepurpose of safety, against untimely firing. into the track of the.hammer or of a stud in the side of the latter, and thereby prevent thehammer from completing its striking the primer or the firing pin, evenif the trigger should be inadvertently operated :for the release of thehammer.

The safety mechanism according to the invention is of a similar nature,but it is characterizedin that the sliding pawl can be carried forwardfrom the position Fire (in which position the sliding pawl is entirelyout of function). to two dierent positions of safety, viz., in additionto a position Unload in which the sliding pawl, asy previously known,has engaged the track for the hammer and prevents it from completing itsstriking down, and also further forward to a position "Safetv in whichthe pawl furthermore entirely locks the catch. so that it isimpossibleforthe recoiling parts to become disengaged-` for their forward stroke.

Furthermore, the safety mechanism according' to the invention ischaracterized in that the sliding pawl, when in the position UnlOa-d,has. stopped the hammer in its striking motion. and will be locked bythe hammer both against being carried rearward to the position Firewv(which might otherwise cause the firing of the cartridge lastintroduced into the chamber of the firearm) struck down, the slidingpawl is locked by thelatter against being carried forward to theposition Unload or to the position Safety (which could otherwise, in thecase of delayed ignition of afcartridge,l causebreakage to the hammer orthe'slidingpawl).

ionims. (01.42470)` A Aform of construction by way of example forarlocking mechanism according to the invention is shown on the drawingwherein- Figure 1 shows the locking-and-dischargemechanism and also therear part of the breech block and breech piece .in an automatic iirearm;all in side View, with the safety member in the: pos1tion Unload andwith the recoiling parts in their foremost position.

Figure 2 shows the same parts with the recoiling parts in their rearmostposition and the safety; member inthe position Fire...

Figure 3 shows a section along line. III-III in Figure 1, and

Figure 4 shows a section along `line IV-IV in Figure 2. K

In thegdrawing, I is the recoiling breech piece ofthe iirearm, in whicha breech block 3 is rotat ably carried onV a bolt 2. The breech blockhas a longitudinal bore for a springactuated striking pin 4. By a pin 5,pressing against the rear face of the breech piece I, the laterisiniluen'ced by a recoil spring 6 enclosed in a spring chamber l.Breech piece I with breech block 3 is moved in the longitudinal axis ina slide box closed on top by a cover 8 `and at its bottom front byatrigger plate 9, also at the rear bya trigger guard III. In thesidewalls Ilia of trigger guard I0, four horizontal pivotsV II, IZ, I3,and I4 are mounted for a trigger I5, a catch I6, a hammer or strikinglever Il and a rod I8 respectively. Besides vatrigger grip I5a, thetrigger I5 has also a for-` ward arm I9 engaging in a downward tongue orguard 20 on the catch I6, which latter is designed as a two-pronged,one-arm lever, see Figure r 3.- The catch I6 has on topa pull-notch 2lfor coV action with an edge 22 Aon breech piece I. A springl -I @apresses against the bottom plane of one .prong of the catch, this springpressing the catch with' the pull-notches upwards.

-I -Iammer I'l has at its bottom a fork-bearing for a pin L Saiected bya surrounding striking spring 24. Further, hammer VI'i has a side lug 25and a plane (not shown) co-acting during the retraction of the recoilingparts with a lug or a-roll on the breech piece for pressing thehammer-.'.rearwards'and finally a rest 26 for 'a point V21.1011 rod I8.The' latter is designed as a two-armed-lever, iwithf its second arm 21dco-acting with'a tongue128 onrbreech piece I.

The safety member proper is a slide-pawl 33 with a cleft front slideablelongitudinally in the firearm in slots a, guided in sidewalls Ia of thetrigger guard, and situated between the trigger and the catch, thebottom -plane of whichpawl has a recess 35 to its front, and to its rearon the top plane a tongue 34 and, finally, at its rearmost part anupward lever 36 with a vertical groove 32. As previously mentioned thesafety member has three main positions: Fire, Unload and Safety In theposition Fire, the rearmost one (see for example Fig. 2) the safetymember is out of function; in position: Unload the intermediate one (seefor example Fig. l) it is pushed so far to the forward that, with itsfront part with recess 35, it is situated forward in the track of lug ofthe hammer and con-- sequently it prevents the hammer from strikingdown, and in the Safety position, the foremost one, it is pushed so farforward that the tongue 34 on the rear of its top plane reaches in belowcatch i6, whereby the latter is preventedy from being lowered by thetrigger for the disengagement of the breech piece.

The sliding of the safety member from one main position to another iseffected by means of a locking-trunk (see Figure 4), rotatably mountedin bearing block 29 and inserted in the left sidewall of the triggerguard, which trunk has an outside finger grip 3l, while on its inner endit has a crank 3l engaging groove 32 in the rear arm of the safetymember, besides which its circumference has three recesses 38 in one andthe same section which recesses in connection with a spring-actuatedpivot 39 co-acting with them indicate. the three main positions of thesafety member. Any operation of the safety member is effected with therecoiling parts resting in their rearmost position, retained by tonguev2l of the catch.

The safety mechanism operates in the following manner:

In the position of the safety member 33 shown in Figure 2, positionFire,` the member is out of function; neither the catch I6 nor thehammer Il are locked.

If the trigger grip l5a is worked, arm I9 will draw the pull-notch 2|'of catch I6 free of its engagement with the edge 22 of breech piece l,and under influence of the recoil spring 6, pin 5 will press the breechpiece I with breech block 3 forwards into firing position. Just beforethis latter position is reached, tongue 28 on breech piece l will pressthe pole arm 27a forwards, and thereby the point 2l will leave the rest26 of hammer I1. Under the influence of striking spring 24, the hammerwill now rotate and strike the striking pin which latter will be pushedforwards into breech block 3 and ignite the fuse of the cartridgeinserted into the chamber at the forward stroke of the recoiling parts.

When the recoiling parts are in their fore--v most position, and thehammer I1 has struck down, the safety member is locked in the' positionFire, as the tongue 25 of the hammer I1 is of so great circularextension that its cylindrical face, when the hammer is struck down,still reaches down in front of the forward end of the safety member,thereby preventing the same from being pushed forwards.

In the position of the safety member shown in Figure 1, position Unload,the catch is still unlocked, but the safety member is pushed so far tothe forward that its foremost part with recess is situated in the trackof tongue 25 on hammer l1.

When, after the trigger having been worked, and toward the end of theirforward stroke, the recoiling partshave pressed tongue 21 of the; rod'out of rest 26 on. the hammer Vl, the

latter will start to rotate, actuated by striking spring 24, but soonthereafter its motion will be stopped by tongue 25 striking the bottomface of the safety member in the bottom of recess 35. This is thesituation illustrated in Figure 1. The hammer will thus be preventedfrom striking down, and consequently the cartridge last introduced intothe chamber will not be red, nor will the recoiling parts be thrownrearward again. If now the magazine or cartridge belt of the firearm isremoved, or if the feeding of cartridges therefrom is stopped, asubsequent loading grip (during which the trigger is worked), will causethe cartridge in the chamber to be thrown out in the same manner as isthe case with an empty cartridge, so that from such moment the firearmwill be unloaded, as no fresh cartridge is introduced.

From the moment when tongue 25 of the hammer has engaged recess 35 inthe bottom plane of the safety member, the latter will be locked so thatit can neither be retracted from tongue 25, nor can it be pushed furtherforward, untilv the hammer has been cocked once more by the recoilingparts being carried back to rest in their rearmost position.

In the position Safety where, as previously mentioned, the safety memberhas been pushed still further forward above'tongue 25, and even so faras to allow tongue 3d at the rear of its top face to tread in belowcatch I6, a double safety is effected as the catch can not be presseddown, through the trigger being worked, for the disengagement of therecoiling parts, andneither will the hammer, even if disengaged, be ableto strike down, in the case that the former safety should fail.

I claim:

1. In an automatic firearm including a striking pin adapted to be struckby a hammery the com-v bination which comprises, a recoil mechanismcapable of axial movement within said firearm to a rearward position andto a forward position, a trigger, a trigger-actuated catch for retainingsaid recoil mechanism in its rearward position, a hammer adapted to bereleased by said recoil mechanism at the end of its forward movement,said hammer being' provided with a side lug, a slide pawl slidableaxially of said firearm, said. pawl' being disengaged from said hammerand said catch while in its rearward position, and be ing slidableforwardly to two different safety positions, in one of which, whenpartly slid for wardly to the unload position, said slide pawl engagessaid side lug on said hammer and thereby prevents said hammer whenreleased from striking said striking pin, without however impedingmovement of said recoil mechanism. and. in the second of said forwardpositions, the safety position, when slid forward fully to the limit ofits forward axial movement, said slide pawl is positioned so as to blockmovement of said catch, thereby preventing release of said recoil mech-Ianism for forward movement thereof.

2. In an automatic firearm as defined in claim 1, the arrangementwherein 'said slide pawl is provided with an extending tongue, saidtongue,y whensaid slide pawl is in its forward or safetyr position,being positioned so as to extend into the path of movement of saidtrigger-actuated catch, thereby blocking movement of said catch andpreventing release of said recoil mechanism for forward movementthereof.

3. In an. automatic firearm as defined in claim 1, the construction inwhich said slide` pawlV is provided with a recess in which said side lugon said hammer is adapted to be positioned when said slide pawl is inthe partly-forward unload position, thereby locking said pawl in saidposition, and preventing said hammer from striking said striking pinWhen said hammer is released.

4. In an automatic rearm as dened in claim 1, the construction in whichsaid side lug on said hammer is providedswith a curved outward faceportion, said face portion being so positioned, when said hammer isreleased when said slide paWl is in its most rearward position, as toprevent forward movement of said slide pawl, which is thereby retainedin said rearward or re position.

AAGE FREDERIK CHRISTIAN HENCKEL.

. 6 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in th le ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 657,052 Bleha Q Aug. 28, 1900712,282 Fay et a1 Oct. 28, 1902 845,994 Beckwith Mar. 5, 1907

